James Carroll

Tritium power source for long-lived sensors

A tritium-based indirect converting photovoltaic (PV) power source has been designed and prototyped as a long-lived (~15 years) power source for sensor networks. Tritium is a biologically benign beta emitter and low-cost isotope acquired from commercial vendors for this purpose. The power source combines tritium encapsulated with a radioluminescent phosphor coupled to a commercial PV cell. The tritium, phosphor, and PV components are packaged inside a BA5590-style military-model enclosure. The package has been approved by the nuclear regulatory commission (NRC) for use by DOD. The power source is designed to produce 100μW electrical power for an unattended radiation sensor (scintillator and avalanche photodiode) that can detect a 20 μCi source of 137Cs at three meters. This beta emitting indirect photon conversion design is presented as step towards the development of practical, logistically acceptable, lowcost long-lived compact power sources for unattended sensor applications in battlefield awareness and environmental detection.

Radiation detection and wireless networked early warning

We have designed a compact, wireless, GPS-enabled array of inexpensive radiation sensors based on scintillation counting. Each sensor has a scintillator, photomultiplier tube, and pulse-counting circuit that includes a comparator, digital potentiometer and microcontroller. This design provides a high level of sensitivity and reliability. A 0.2 m2 PV panel powers each sensor providing a maintenance-free 24/7 energy source. The sensor can be mounted within a roadway light-post and monitor radiological activity along transport routes. Each sensor wirelessly transmits real-time data (as counts per second) up to 2 miles with a XBee radio module, and the data is received by a XBee receive-module on a computer. Data collection software logs the information from all sensors and provides real-time identification of radiation events. Measurements performed to-date demonstrate the ability of a sensor to detect a 20 μCi source at 3.5 meters when packaged with a PVT (plastic) scintillator, and 7 meters for a sensor with a CsI crystal (more expensive but ~5 times more sensitive). It is calculated that the sensor-architecture can detect sources moving as fast as 130 km/h based on the current data rate and statistical bounds of 3-sigma threshold detection. The sensor array is suitable for identifying and tracking a radiation threat from a dirty bomb along roadways.

Progress towards a LaBr3-based associated particle imaging test bed for contraband detection and bulk materials analysis

An array of nine 811 cm3 LaBr3:Ce crystals coupled to photomultiplier tubes is used to detect γ rays induced from materials by neutrons emitted from a Deuterium-Tritium neutron generator. The accompanying digital data acquisition system has been developed to understand operational limits for remote detection of explosive contraband and analysis of material composition. Results are presented demonstrating current system performance, with the eventual goal of detecting a small (less than 5%) change in the composition of a material. Improvement expected over existing analog data collection systems are described along with discussion of the enhancements.

Radiation-Induced Trapped Charging Effects in SiC Power MOSFETs

Commercial SiC MOSFETs were exposed to ionizing radiation to characterize the radiation response and to compare the observed threshold voltage (VT) instability post-radiation exposure, with the VT instability following bias temperature stress (BTS) testing. As expected, a large number of positively charged oxide traps were present in these devices following irradiation, resulting in a significant negative VT shift. However, the observed VT instability following irradiation was much smaller than that for similarly processed devices exposed to a BTS. Irradiated devices subjected to unbiased thermal treatments experienced a significant annealing of trapped holes above 100 °C. However, isochronal annealing treatments did not significantly alter the number of switching oxide traps, suggesting that a large portion of the traps activated by irradiation may lie deeper within the SiO2, beyond the tunneling distance from the SiC.

Alpha Schottky junction energy source

Isotope batteries offer solutions for long-lived low-power sensor requirements. Alpha emitting isotopes have energy per decay 103 times that of beta emitters. Alpha particles are absorbed within 20 μm of most materials reducing shielding mitigation. However, damage to materials from the alphas limits their practical use. A Schottky Barrier Diode (SBD) geometry is considered with an alpha emitting contact-layer on a diamond-like crystal semiconductor region. The radiation tolerance of diamond, the safety of alpha particles, combined with the internal field of the SBD is expected to generate current useful for low-power electronic devices over decades. Device design parameters and calculations of the expected current are described.